Lalasa's Race
by DragonDancer11
Summary: Lalasa is the daughter of Kel and Dom. She is good friends with Prince James, the son of King Roald and Queen Shinkokami. It starts out when she is 4, then goes to when she is 16. Romantic. Set a few years after Tricksters Queen.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Tortall books. But by Mithros, I wish I did! I would defiantly put Daine and Numair's wedding in the books!

* * *

"Mama, Lalasa hit me again!" Cried a little boy dressed in very grand clothes. His features looked Yamani, just like his mother Queen Shinkokami. His father was King Roald of Tortall. The little prince ran into his mother's arms, sobbing.

"Oh, James. Do you just let her hit you all the time?" Shinkokami asked him.

The little boy sucked on his fingers thoughtfully. "Well I tell her things and she gets mad then she hits me! Its not nice!" he said.

The door flew open and Keladry of Mindelan ran in, holding a frowning four-year-old by the hand. "Shinko, I'm sorry! Lalasa just doesn't know any better! I fear its my fault, I'm always training and she watches, so she thinks its alright to hit and-" Shinkokami held up a hand.

"Kel, stop. Everything is fine. Toddlers hit each other, it's only their nature." Shinko said calmly. Then switched to the worried friend mode. "Are you sure you're cut out for being a mother? You are just such a great knight. I always thought of Kel as the forever single general. So much like Alanna."

Kel sighed. "That was before I met Dom. Now I have little Lalasa." She smiled down at the little girl she was holding by the hand. "Lalasa, could you please apologize to James?"

"No!" the little girl shouted. "He is infuriating!" Both Shinkokami and Keladry looked startled at the long word coming out of Lalasa's mouth.

* * *

"Arg! You are so infuriating!" screamed an eight-year-old Lalasa, daughter of Domitan and Keladry.

She was tall for her age with shoulder length light brown hair. Her eyes were huge sparkling green and her skin was tan from being outside all the time. Her favorite things to do were riding her horse Niji, Yamani for raindrop, run as fast as she could, dance, and play with his royal highness Prince James.

"What did I do this time?" James asked her. His hands were still glowing with blue fire edged in gold. Quickly, he hid them behind his back.

"You are a cheater! You used magic to win the race!" she was pointing at him accusingly. Sometimes James thought she was the royal one, not him. Lalasa had much more authority then he ever did.

"I did not!" he lied. "You just imagined that. Lalasa, you just cannot bare to think that someone can run faster than you." His hands had stopped glowing now.

Lalasa stuck her tongue out at James, the walked over to Niji, swinging herself onto her horse's back. She kicked Niji into a gallop and rode away.

"Lalasa, wait! Please come back! I really did cheat!" He ran to his horse that was a descendant of his Grandfathers famous horse, Darkness. He speed after Lalasa wishing he had just told the truth.

Lalasa got to the Royal Palace gate in Chores. She tried to quietly stable Niji and sneak up to her rooms. With her eyes on the ground, she didn't notice her 'cousin' Aly leaning against the wall. Lalasa bumped right into her and fell over.

"Lalasa, hello, what are you doing?" Aly asked her. She noticed that Nawat was there too,

"Oh, nothing, just going to my rooms." Lalasa said distantly then running away. She turned around to watch them again after a while. Nawat and Aly were kissing. Lalasa made a disgusted face then kept on running. Grown ups are disgusting! She thought.

* * *

The whole ballroom was lit with thousands of gold and red candles, the royal colors. Lalasa didn't hate dresses, but they were not her favorite type of garment.

She was wearing a Pink Tissue dress that made Buri laugh her head off saying it looked just like the one Thayet ruined in a swamp. This was starting to really annoy Lalasa. She felt like going and jumping in a swamp herself.

Lalasa was twelve and her hair had become a darker shade of brown. Her skin was still tan and her eyes were just as green and sparkly and they had been when she was eight. Tonight her hair was down and it tumbled all the way down her back. Her bangs were slightly to long and kept on getting in her eyes. People said that she looked more like her 'aunt' Daine than her own mother.

Kel was sitting with her husband Dom, Shinkokami and Roald, Alanna and George, Daine and Numair, and Buri and Roaul. The old king Jonathan and his wife Thayet had let their son Roald be king while they were alive so he could start ruling with out the sadness of losing his parents. Jonathan and Thayet were sitting with Gary of Naxen and Wyldon of Cavall.

Lalasa was sitting with Aly and Nawat, James, Rikash and Saralyn (Daine and Numair's children), and James' older sister Julia.

Lalasa yawned for the fifth time. She was bored out of her mind. Everyone else at the table had the Gift of were little Wild Mages. Lalasa was Giftless and sick of hearing about it. Her parents had no magic, and they had gotten through life all right. Finally it was time to dance. Lalasa jumped up eagerly. Dancing was one of her favorite things to do.

First the Queen and King danced, and then Julia danced with some squire. Then James was required to dance with somebody as part of the royal family. He looked pained, but Lalasa grabbed his arm and pulled the grimacing James out onto the dance floor. She didn't care if everyone watched her, in fact, Lalasa liked attention. Soon others were dancing around her them.

"Do you want to go outside?" James asked her hopefully. He had a huge crush on Lalasa, but she was clueless about his feelings to her.

"No, dancing is fun. I want to stay here." She answered with out thinking about his question.

"Can we compromise?"

"Fine."

"Two more songs." He reasoned. "Then we take a walk."

"Agreed." She whispered in his ear. James shivered. She was so beautiful.

A while later, they walked around outside. James fought the urge to hold Lalasa's hand.

"I'll hand it to you, it is nice out here." Lalasa said thoughtfully. She kicked off her high heals. "I hate those things!" she told James. They were standing in grass. The grass ended in a pond. Lalasa grinned. "Race you!" she said wickedly and pulling up her dress, began to run, James on her heals.

They ran with the night air refreshing them and the grass getting stuck between their toes. At the end of the grass, Lalasa stopped running. She had won, but not by much. She was about to savor her victory, when James (not able to stop running so abruptly) banged into her. They both fell forward into the pond with a splash. They both came up sopping wet and laughing.

"What are you doing?" someone screeched. James winced. Julia's voice.

"We fell in the pond." Lalasa said calmly. Mayhap you should jump in too, it is quite refreshing." It might cool your snobby head! She thought, but didn't say that outloud.

James noticed that the squire Julia had danced with had his arm around her waist. Julia huffed, and she and the squire walked off.

James and Lalasa exchanged a glance, then began to laugh again. Hysterically.

* * *

"Come on, Lalasa!" Kel yelled through her daughters closed door. "Its Julia's wedding, you can't be late!"

Lalasa laughed at that. "As if she would care, Ma!" she told Kel. "Julia has hated me ever since James and I fell in the pond four years ago!"

Kel had noticed that James was head over heals in love with her daughter, but had done nothing. This was between James and Lalasa, not her. "Well in any case, please hurry!" Kel turned to Dom, and arm in arm they walked off.

Lalasa finished tying her yellow sash and turned to face the mirror. A girl of sixteen with huge green eyes starred back at her. That was why Lalasa had chosen a green dress with a yellow sash; to go with her eyes.

She continued to inspect herself in the mirror. Her mother had been brought up in the Yamani islands, so she would be wearing a kimono, but Lalasa was wearing a Tortallan dress. Her brown hair was strait and pulled back in a braid. Her bangs seemed to be forever to long, and Lalasa had stopped trying to push them out of her face. The braid reached down to the end of her back. She had very long hair, which was so different from her mother who always had short cropped hair.

Lalasa heard a knock at her door. Opening it she saw James. His black hair was neat and he wore the royal gold and red uniform. Unlike some, he made them look wonderful. He held out an arm. "I am here to escort the beautiful Lady Lalasa." He said formally.

Lalasa laughed. "I am here to be escorted." She said comically.

The wedding itself was very boring to Lalasa, she sat in the front next to James, but was still bored out of her mind. After the wedding she escaped to her rooms to put on riding clothes. Breeches and a tunic, no dresses!

Niji saddled, she rode through Chores until she got to an isolated bench. She didn't know why, but she felt like being alone. She was sitting across from an inn. Seeing what it was called, she laughed out loud. The Dancing Dove! She didn't know it still existed. Alanna and George always talked about that place.

She saw a horse trotting towards her bench. It was James on his gelding.

When he dismounted. Lalasa looked up at him. "You never could win races, could you?"

He shook his head. "No, you always would win. And that's what I loved."

"You loved losing?" Was the heat getting to James? He was acting a bit stupid.

"No, silly. I love you."

"Of course you do- wait! What?" she could not believe her ears.

James remained silent. Then reached up and cupped her cheek. "I've loved you since we were eleven." James leaned forward and kissed Lalasa on the mouth. At first she thought that this was an outrage, then began to think that maybe, just maybe she love James too. He broke away.

Lalasa was always the one to be bold and make the decisions. She kissed him again.

"Do you know what? I think I love you too." She told him. Not terribly romantic, but she knew he wouldn't mind.

They rode back to the Royal Palace together. Once the horses were taken care of, the walked inside, holding hands. No one who wants romantic privacy can ever get it in the Tortallan Royal Palace. They walked in to see Shinkokami and Kel having Yamani tea. Both mothers smiled at their children.

"Welcome to the Royal family." Shinkokami told Lalasa. The girl blushed but looked happy.

Later that night was a ball to celebrate the marriage of Princess Julia and her new husband. (The squire from the pond incident)

James and Lalasa danced all of the songs then took a walk outside. They walked by the pond they had fallen into and to the bench that was under a tree in the courtyard.

"Do you know what bench this is?" James asked Lalasa.

"A brown one?" she offered.

"It is where Jonathan of Conte proposed to Thayet _jin _Wilma."

* * *

Please please please review! I really want to know how I did! Other than a Zutara drabble, this is my first real fanfic! I want to know if I suck at this or not! Please please please please review!Thank you so so much for anyone who reviews! 


End file.
